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Looking for owner of lost animal

A pot-bellied pig has taken up residence in a Brush Line paddock much to the the confusion of the two resident horses. The wayward pig showed up at Phil Jones' property Tuesday and he's hoping to find its owner. Diana Martin/Chatham Daily News/QMI Agency

Phil Jones said the diminutive porker showed up in his paddock on Tuesday and began buddying up to the two horses who live there.

“My mechanic noticed it. He was standing outside looking at the horses and said, 'There's a pig out there.' I said 'What?'” said Jones. “But how it got here I don't know.”

Jones hasn't been able to get near his swine squatter but said it is quick to go wherever the horses are, unless that's too close to people.

He said attempts were made to corral the animal on Tuesday but when the group got it alongside the former chicken barn the pig made contact with a low-hanging hot wire when it attempted to make a run for it.

“It went, 'Wow!' And took off,” Jones said.

Photos of the wayward piggy posted on Jones' Facebook page quickly garnered 21 responses from his friends teasing him about the four-legged character including one who is sure it's Babe.

“I thought I'm going to wake up in the morning and it's going to be gone,” he said, adding with a laugh. “My daughter's all, 'Daddy I want to keep it.' My daughter is 23.”

“It seems to like the horses because it's hanging out with them and wagging its tail,” he said. “I think it's a pig with an identity crisis, I don't think it knows it's a pig, it thinks it's a horse.”

In a strange twist one of his clients for Jones Limo phoned shortly after he discovered the pig.

“I'm telling her, 'I'm just outside right now, someone dropped off a pot-bellied pig, or it just showed up,'” Jones said. “She said you could go to the Pet and Wildlife Rescue site and they'll respond in a few minutes. What are the odds.”

The pig is now making the social media rounds with a posting on Lost Pets of Chatham-Kent and on Kijiji in hopes Jones may find the rightful owner.

If nothing comes up in the next couple of days he will begin looking for a good place to re-home it.

“I'm looking for the home it came from or the person who wants it,” he said. “Someone who maybe already has a pot-bellied pig, or a farm and (the owner) isn't going to put it in a pot. That's my take on it.”